North Texas Daily

Another midweek game equaled another struggle for North Texas.

The Mean Green lost to Abilene Christian 3-1 Wednesday night and are now 2-3 in their last five midweek games.

North Texas (22-21) left eight players on base, while the Wildcats (18-20) left none stranded.

“It was a well pitched game by both teams,” Kee told Meangreensports.com. “Hope  threw a two hitter and lost and I think she understands she made two mistakes. For a young pitcher she hung in there. Offensively we just could not get a timely hit and they did.”

The bottom of the fifth inning epitomized what went wrong for North Texas Wednesday night at Lovelace Stadium.

The Mean Green had bases loaded with no outs after a walk, single and single from a bunt. Sophomore catcher Nicole Ochotnicki  was walked which brought in the lone run of the game but kept the bases loaded with no outs.

Coming up was the four, five and six batters in the lineup, almost a guarantee to score at least one run, if not two to tie the game.

But that never came to fruition as a sophomore designated hitter Lacy Gregory lined out, junior third baseman Rhylie Makawe’s contact led to a force out at the plate and then sophomore right fielder Hannah Rebar flew out to center field.

“We can’t have bases loaded with no outs and not do something with the four five six hitters up,” Kee told Meangreensports.com. “That’s pretty much what it came down to.”

North Texas got on base with seven walks in the game and their lone RBI in the contest came off of a walk.

There was a total of five hits between the two teams and as Kee said, it was a pitchers game.

Freshman pitcher Hope Trautwein did what she has done all season for the Mean Green, only allowing two hits, one walk and three earned runs while striking out two in 7.0 innings.

All three of the Wildcats runs came in the top of the third inning and after that, Trautwein bounced back to shut down Abilene Christian while waiting for the run support that never came.

“They were aggressive and putting the ball in play a lot, so we did a great job of managing them,” Trautwein told Meangreensports.com. “They just hit it when they needed it and we didn’t.”

The Wildcat’s pitching was split between Hannah Null and Calie Burris. Null got the win, pitching 4.0 innings and only allowing one hit, three walks and no runs. Burris came in to close out the game and got the save with 3.0 innings pitched, allowing two hits and one earned run.

“It just comes down to situational hitting and we weren’t able to execute,” Ochotnicki told Meangreensports.com. “We were getting hits just not the timely ones we needed.”

Next up: North Texas plays host to Florida International University Saturday in a doubleheader at 1 p.m. then 3 p.m.

Featured Image: North Texas freshman Hope Trautwein pitches in a game against Houston Baptist University on Apr. 11 at Lovelace Stadium. Sara Carpenter